Project 446: A technique-rich anniversary card

Claire and I always like to show off in our cards for each other and even simple-looking cards should feature some hidden complexities.

As it's her wedding anniversary I wanted to make her something fun and cheerful. This card features a few fun things, including a new toolset she gave me this summer. She introduced me to Distress Oxides and this card features three colors though the yellow all but disappears with the pink and orange. I then spritzed a stamp with water and laid the card on top to get a bleached chevron. I then used punched hearts (that I think I got when Claire lent me her scalloped heart punch years ago) and then used a die to get the sentiment.

It looks simple but it's cheery and fun and the colors of a Tequila Sunrise - perfect for recognising their honeymoon in Mexico!

Project 445: A textured leaving card

One of my colleagues is leaving the company and I wanted to make her a little card to say goodbye. She's quite girly and I wanted to temper that with a bit of texture and technique. I cerated a patterned square with Distress Oxides blended and then used a water-spritzed stamp to create the spot background by laying the card on top. The flower is a series of burlap flowers and a fake flower and a button from my stash. The beige pearls add a bit of vintage lux and I'm pleased with how simple it is. It's not my recent CAS style but does remind me of the cards I used to make and that's not a bad thing! Just a fun little card for a week night, I'm saving a treat for tomorrow ;)

Project: A 1st Christmas card

This week at Sketch Saturday features an image from our sponsor Oddball Art Co

I loved this little toy, I just thought with the sweet santa-style hat it would be perfect for a little Christmas card. I colored it using Spectrum Noir pencils, which I love for the ability to add really great texture and depth. I opted for a simple color scheme and then die cut him out using a stitched die. I embossed some lavender card and used a stitched square card, alternating with a patterned card.

I hand wrote a little greeting as  I thought it would be perfect for my niece's first christmas card from me. I hope it goes down well! Looking forward to what everyone else is creating this week.

Project: Using at Tag for MAWTT

This week at Moving Along with the Times we have a fun challenge: use a charm or tag. I can't remember us ever having a challenge like this so I was pumped - hope you are too!

I decided to use this for my dad's birthday card. He's a keen wine buff so I thought this would be a great way to incorporate a die into the tag. I started with a big kraft tag and then used Vintage Photo distress ink to give more texture to the tag. I die cut the wine bottle, the burst at the top and the 'Cheers' sentiments and then layered it all on top of an old text card stock that I had held on to for years. It came together really quickly, I added some glitter to the star burst bit I don't love it. Oh well!

Looking forward to what everyone else will do!

Project 444: A simple 30th card

My buddy at work is turning 30 and we'll be celebrating at the pub after work. He's a keen cyclist and I wanted to incorporate that into the card while keeping the rest very minimal and masculine.

The sketch at Freshly Made Sketches was a bit of fun and so I thought I would give it a go:

I took an old Sizzix stamp and repeatd it across the card to incorporate the bike. The Green, yellow and blue circles were cut out and then I added the die cut 30 on top. I thought it looked a bit like a speed sign which was nice. It's super simple but I think it will go down a treat.

Project 443: New stamps for Christmast

Every year I buy myself some new Christmas stamps in January sales and then, come Septemper I get all surprised shopping my own stash. It's really funny to discover what your craft taste was 9 months previously - was it CAS? Was it all about the sentiment? 

So this series was made from things I got in the Recollections sale. The hero card features a Tim Holtz stamp from Claire and the sentiment was from the sale. I loved the deconstructed tree with the ddefinition sentiment. It's a great combo in my book. The background is a sheet of washi paper that I found in my stash - Claire gave it to me years ago and I confess that I lost it in my files of stuff until today! I die cut it with stitched square dies and then cut the card blanks to fit. To top it off I added really minimal touches of glitter glue in green, gold and red. I like how minimalist and simple it is. 

The bears are too fun. I did the gingham bear in red and the holly in green using Stampin' Up dye inks. The papers are ANCIENT - I mean like 4-5 years ago - and I was so pleased I could make the pattern work with the die. I love shopping the stash. All in all I really enjoyed making them - I did 16 total in about 2 hours so I was pleased with my production line effors. I am solidly on track for my deadline to be done in November :) 

Project: A cheerful bunny sketch

This week at Sketch Saturday we have a really fun little sketch for you!

I decided to rotate it and play with some fun patterned papers. The image is from our great sponsor Scrap N' Dipity and it's called I Love Carrots Too! How great is that?

I colored it using ProMarkers and then fussy cut it tout. I went straight up against the lines because the white border looked odd against the kraft stock. I popped it off the paper with foam tape . It's a bit more CAS than I intended but I actually really like it.

Hopefully you'll be able to play along with us this week!

Project 442: A collage 30th birthday card

My friend gave me a brief for a birthday card that included brunch, fried chicken, crime and detective shows, weight lifting and boxing, and the closer 'basically all millenial things.' Awesome.

I decided a collage card would help me cover all the crazy stuff in this brief. I paper cut the different components. I am particularly pleased with the representation of the mystery show. I try to only add drawn accents if it's needed but I think I got the balance right. Once I had laid it out I die cut the sentiment so it would fit with the rest. I got my friend to consult on backgrounds as I was feeling indecisive and she chose the pink chevrons which was the one I was least convinced by but it works. At the last minute we decided to add the pineapple, which totally makes it.

I absolutely love it. I hope she does too! 

Project 441: A mini-masked and heat embossed Christmas card

I saw the layout at Freshly Made Sketches and thought it would work perfectly with a wreath to make a Christmas card. Please forgive the bad lighting of the shot!

The stamp is a freebie from Creative Stamping magazine set I got earlier this year (Feb? March? I used it for Mother's Day cards so must have been before that!) and I heat embossed it with Platinum Ranger embossing powder. I used Peeled Paint Distress Ink to blend a little stripe that I masked off behind the wreath. I added a sentiment with a lot of flourish as I thought it suited the wreath. I've had that set for years, Claire gave it to me as one of my first Christmas sets. I added little touches of enamel accents to make the berries pop and some white as accents.

I kept it really CAS as I like a minimalist Christmas card - I just wish I had taken a better photo!